I Have a GSA Schedule—Now What? By Tom Basile Seneca Creek Consulting In Parts 1 and 2, we discussed the first of three essential steps, Discovery, Planning and Execution, that form the foundation of virtually any successful effort in government sales. Three key questions in the Discovery stage were addressed: (1) How is the government buying the solutions we are selling? (.) Where are my competitors focused? and (3) Who is buying what we are selling? In other words, how do you determine what agencies to focus your limited resources on and why? In Part 3 we discussed Planning, which addressed the question: Where do you start and why? The plan is, in large part, the distillation and application of substantive findings from the Discovery phase with a focus on agencies, major acquisition programs, contracting vehicles and teaming partners. In our final installment we focus on Execution and discuss ways to implement the plan with limited resources. Let’s go back to our example of the small engineering firm that specializes in Building Code Compliance services. We identified during Planning the top four agencies buying this service, with the largest of these entities being the Army Corps of Engineers. Assuming the company is based in Virginia we determined that the Corps’ North Atlantic Division and its Districts (New England, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk) would be our primary targets. Further research indicated that two mission areas, Military Construction and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), were the best fit for the services being offered. Based on contracts awarded and program responsibilities, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk Districts managed the bulk of the construction and BRAC programs for this division. To get started, we need to focus on the end customer, the Corps, and the prime contractor community in parallel. It is always best to meet key customer POCs prior to meeting with prime contractors. Knowledge of the customer, its current and future programs, and challenges they are facing goes a long way to establishing credibility and being considered as a “player” with prime contractors. For the Corps there are many touch points to consider such as Program Management, heads of Engineering, Construction, Contracting and Small Business Liaisons. Each can provide a wealth of information, guidance and intelligence you just cannot get over the Web. You never know until you make the meeting. With the contractor community, we compile a list of the contract awardees in these three districts including large, small and small disadvantaged businesses including 8(a), Alaska Native Corporations, SDVOB and HUBZone. These are our teaming partner targets. They have existing contracts that theoretically have funding and potentially a need for our services. It’s advisable to have a list of upcoming programs that are in the planning stages. Since the contractors are already working in one or more districts it’s a good bet they are also targeting upcoming programs. With smaller companies the target is the president or CEO. With larger companies we must determine where in their bureaucracy to focus our efforts. A good starting point is the person responsible for managing the Corps contract(s). This person is motivated to provide quality services to the customer and ensure that the project stays on budget. Here is where your value proposition needs to be succinct and compelling. Remember, they may or may not have a teammate that provides similar services. If they do, they may not be completely satisfied with this subcontractor’s performance. Remember one important fact: Nobody buys over the phone. Get a meeting so you can start to develop a relationship, but be well equipped to deal with issues which you may extract from articles and web searches. For more information, contact tbasile@senecacreekconsulting.com or visit senecacreekconsulting.com